Mayonnaise is another emulsification sauce made with egg yolks, a bit of water, oil, and some flavorings. The egg yolks are the liaison (or emulsifier) that gets the oil and water to combine in mayonnaise. The mustard you use becomes the dominant flavor, so pick one you like.

2 rules
There are 2 main rules you need to know to make mayonnaise (or hollandaise or Béarnaise, for that matter):
• Have all ingredients at room temperature so that the emulsification can happen.
• Add the oil SLOWLY.

Fixing a Broken Mayonnaise
If the sauce breaks, try adding a bit of cold water. If that doesn’t work, try a new bowl with a bit of mustard or a fresh egg yolk in it. Then slowly add a bit of broken mayo into it and whisk. Continue adding the broken mayo slowly.

Watch a Pro
Alton Brown has a detailed post about mayonnaise. 

History
According to History of Sauces by Linda Stradley (What’s Cooking America), the sauce was created by Chef Jules Colette at his restaurant Le Pavillon Henri IV and served in the 1830s, but the sauce was named after Henri IV who was a gourmand born in Béarn, France and was King of France from 1589 to 1610.

"Don't be saucy with me Béarnaise..."
I had trouble when I made Béarnaise the first time. I added the clarified butter too fast, and it threw a tantrum and broke. I quickly consulted the cookbook, which told me to throw an ice cube into the mix to cool it off. This didn’t work. The next thing the cookbook suggested was to take a new pot, add a bit of cold water, and then add a ladle full of the sauce and whisk. Once that was smooth, add a bit more broken sauce to the fresh pot. Slowly, and ever patiently I whisked. And it worked! Thankfully, my eggs didn’t curdle so I was good to go. By this time, the T-bone steaks were ready, everyone was hungry, and I took a few casual photos and dug in. Later, looking at the photos, I realized I should have spent more time on the photo shoot!

A second Béarnaise sauce for lunch later in the week, no sauce tantrums (was I more patient or was it the room temperature butter?), more time with the photo shoot, and this time sauce spread leisurely over fried chicken, and again it was delicious!

I had some leftover Béarnaise sauce and attempted to re-heat it for supper. I put the burner on low, poured my leftover sauce into a clean pot, added 1 tablespoon of very hot water, and whisked like mad. Without stopping, I continued whisking, dipping my finger in for a heat-and-taste test, until the sauce was warm enough to drape over my leftover chicken. It worked, and it was delicious!

"A Béarnaise sauce is simply an egg yolk, a shallot,
a little tarragon vinegar, and butter,
but it takes years of practice for the result to be perfect."
–Fernand Point–

Who is Fernand Point?

"I believe Fernand Point is one of the last true gourmands
of the 20th century. His ruminations are extraordinary and thought-provoking. He has been an inspiration for legions of chefs.”

–Thomas Keller–{On a side note, earlier this week I even made Eggs Benedict for one! It’s extremely dangerous to know how to whip this up on short notice given the amount of butter and the fact that it’s swimsuit season in these parts!}

Choking on Artichokes
On the artichoke front, I choked. This was the first time I’ve cooked artichokes! And I failed. First off, I had to get some tweezers to dig out the sliver of a prickle from one of the buggers. Then, I carefully de-leaved them until I thought I’d gotten to the light green center. After rubbing them lovingly with lemon, I plopped them into boiling water to cook. 30 minutes later, I took them out. I tried to dig out the middle to put the lovely un-broken Béarnaise sauce in, destroying 2 of the 3 chokes in the process. Then, when I finally sat down to eat, I daintily put one in my mouth and couldn’t chew it! Since artichokes are in the recipe for next week, I may try it again, but I need help.

Watch a Pro
Here’s a video showing how to make Béarnaise sauce. This video shows the solids from the reduction being strained and then thrown out, but the version in Le Cordon Bleu at Home keeps these in the sauce, which adds a nice texture to the sauce.

Links
12 Tips You Need To Make Perfect Bearnaise Sauce 

::Whisk Wednesdays::
Welcome to Whisk Wednesdays!

Hollandaise sauce
This week it's Hollandaise sauce, another of the five mother sauces. (Velouté, Espagnole, Béchamel, and Tomato are the others.) Hollandaise is similar to mayonnaise and lemon curd, but it's served warm.

Hollandaise is basically a sabayon, which is a foamy, emulsified mixture of yolks and liquid (in this case water). If you were to add sugar and a sweet wine, you would have zabaglione. But, today we're adding a ton (only half a pound) of butter to the sabayon.

History and Tips
Hollandaise dates back to the 17th century and used to be named Sauce Isigny, which is a town in Normandy famous for its butter. However, during World War I, France could no longer produce butter so they imported it from Holland and the name stuck. (from Linda Stradley at What's Cooking America)

Hollandaise is a tricky beast and requires constant attention, sorta like kids. You must whisk constantly to ensure the eggs don't stick to the bottom of the pan and to keep the texture smooth, not grainy.

There are different ways of making hollandaise: with a double boiler or directly over the flame. With clarified butter or with cubes of unsalted butter. With a blender or just a whisk.

Today, I tried putting the yolks directly over the flame (or burner, in my case!) and whisked constantly. I also made two batches: one using clarified butter and the other using butter cubes. The sauce with the clarified butter was runnier, plus I prefer the flavor from using the milk solids from good 'ol butter (and I'm not wasting any precious butter).

Earlier this year, I made lemon curd for a lemon cream tart and at the same time tried making a hollandaise sauce following the method suggested for Dorie's The Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart. It turned out great. This is yet another option for making hollandaise.

Hollandaise Trouble
Many things can go wrong with this sauce, but here are the tips I found to try to correct the problem.

• If curdled, blend in a blender although the texture won't be the same. You may just want to start over.

• If broken, try whisking in a little cream or water. The sauce may break if it becomes too hot. In this case cooling it off with cold water or an ice cube might do the trick.

• If too thick, add a little boiling water.

• If too thin, you may have added the butter too fast.

If you have the time (and an extra half pound of butter lying around), just start over! That's what I ended up doing after finding my first batch too runny. I put it back on the stove to reheat since it had been sitting out too long for the photo shoot(!), which quickly caused it to break into many pieces!

Watch a Pro
• Here is a great video showing how to make hollandaise.

• Here is another video with Alton Brown demonstrating hollandaise.

Links
I also found these cool links:

• Here's one that shows a picture of deep-fried hollandaise!

• Here's a good article with more background information about hollandaise.

Recipe: Hollandaise

You can find the recipe for Hollandaise in the book Le Cordon Bleu at Home. To see how the rest of the group fared (all 3 of us!) with this week's recipe, click here and then click on each blogger!

Sauce Moutarde

For a variation, you can add Dijon mustard (or whatever mustard you want) to taste. This version tasted great on a ham roast we had. I also tried it on asparagus and the Eggs Benedict and loved it on these too.

Recipe: Eggs Benedict

Serves: 1

1 English Muffin, toasted
1-2 slices back bacon, cooked
1 poached egg
Hollandaise sauce
Freshly ground black pepper

Tasting Notes
Eggs Benedict always seemed so special when we went out for breakfast. Everyone else would order it, and I would order my French Toast. Now, though, I've discovered how much I love this heart-unfriendly breakfast fare and plan on making it more often. The hollandaise was rich and buttery, smooth and creamy, with a slight tang from the lemon. The hardest part of this dish is getting the poached egg properly poached (not too underdone and not too overdone). I still need practice on this front.

The mustard version was delicious too, perfect for a variation on Eggs Benedict or with ham and asparagus.

The best tip I learned was to use a thermos to store the Hollandaise sauce in until you're ready to serve. Brilliant, I tell you.

Next Week (June 25)
• Sauce Béarnaise (Warm emulsified sauce derived from Hollandaise sauce) on page 250

• Coeur de Filet Henri IV (Filet mignons with artichokes and Béarnaise sauce)

. . . . . . . . . .

Running total: $440.68 + $3.31 (Hollandaise) + $2.40 (Eggs Benedict) = $446.39

Butter used so far: 5 pounds, 29 tablespoons

. . . . . . . . . .

Check out the other posts for Whisk Wednesdays:

Grandma's Kitchen Table - Hollandaise Sauce and Moutarde Sauce
InsomniMom - Hollandaise and Sauce Moutarde

More to Explore:

• Index of Recipes
• Visual Recipe Index

Béchamel (pronounced bay-shah-mel) is a thickened white sauce, also known as a milk sauce and is one of the five mother sauces. (Velouté, Espagnole, Hollandaise, and Tomato are the others.)

Although I make a mean homemade mac ‘n cheese, I didn’t know I was, in fact, making Béchamel as a starting point. I used to run home from school every day hoping we were getting macaroni and cheese for lunch and enjoying it while watching re-runs of Flintstones on TV. My daughters love homemade macaroni too, but I remember feeding it to my daughters and their friends, and their friends not finishing it because it wasn’t Kraft Dinner!

Some Notes about Béchamel
Béchamel is similar to velouté, but the liquid that’s added is milk, not stock.

If you don’t include the veal in the recipe, it’s known as Béchamel Maigre (which means lean Béchamel).

Although you don’t have to heat the milk first, doing so makes it easier to achieve a smooth sauce. Also, the sauce thickens faster since it doesn’t have to come up to temperature first. There is great debate about whether to add hot liquid to a cold roux or cold liquid to hot roux. I've done both, and as long as I've vigorously whisked it, I haven't had any lumps.

Steeping the milk with aromatics (such as thyme and bay) while you bring it to a boil enhances the flavor of the Béchamel.

The sauce should coat the back of a spoon, called nappe (pronounced nap), which means tablecloth in French.

History
Catherine de Medici's Tuscan cooks brought Béchamel to France from Italy in the 17th Century. The sauce was named after a courtier, Louis de Béchameil, marquis de Nointel (1630–1703) who was maitre d'hotel of the French King Louis XIV. (Wikipedia)

Watch a Pro
Click here to watch a pro make Béchamel.

Great articles
I found some great articles about Béchamel while researching this topic:
• A roux awakening by Peter Hertzmann
• History of Sauces by Linda Stradley at the website What's Cooking America
• Cream Sauces - Béchamel and Hollandaise by Jack Lang at the eGullet Society

Recipe: Béchamel

from Rogov's Ramblings

Makes: about 2 cups

I always thought demi-glace (pronounced DEHM-ee glahs) was stock reduced by half. If only it were that simple and "basic" as the title suggests!

A simple stock reduction refers to glace de viande (pronounced glahs duh vee-AHND). Traditional demi-glace is much more involved, literally means half glaze, and requires even more hours in the kitchen babysitting stock. It is half stock and half Espagnole (pronounced ehs-pah-NYOHL) sauce that are then reduced by half. This traditional method is a little passé according to an article on StyleForum, which suggests that reductions are hot and roux is not. But some believe that the time spent on making demi-glace the traditional way using both brown stock and Espagnole sauce is well worth it.

Espagnole Sauce
So, what is Espagnole sauce? Espagnole sauce is the most basic brown stock in French cuisine, has the distinction of being one of the five mother sauces, and has a Spanish name. You can credit the Spanish cooks at Louis XIII’s wedding who added Spanish tomatoes to the brown sauce and everyone loved it. I'm sure these cooks would have given the Iron Chefs a run for their money with their Spanish tomatoes!

Espagnole sauce is made with brown roux and brown stock. Bacon, the usual aromatics (onions, celery, carrots, a Bouquet garni), and tomatoes are added. Also, Madeira or sherry is sometimes added, although the recipe I used didn’t call for it.

Process for Demi-glace
So, here’s the process to make classical demi-glace:

1. Make brown stock.
2. Make Espagnole sauce.
3. Make demi-glace.

Since I have a freezer full of stock, I just had to prepare the Espagnole sauce to get to step 3.

Thomas Keller’s Veal Stock (affiliate link) and Demi-glace

When I made veal stock, I made several versions. To make the demi-glace, I used one of the veal stocks that I roasted with tomato sauce. As I was working through this recipe, it occurred to me that Thomas Keller’s veal stock (affiliate link) involved a similar 2-step plus reduction process. His doesn't have a whiff of flour in it nor does it have bacon, but other than that I wonder if you might be able to classify it as demi-glace.

So, you can try the following three ways to get yourself to demi-glace status:

• You can reduce veal stock. This is more common these days since roux is passé and reductions save time in the kitchen. But, for the purist, this is not the path to flavor nirvana.

• You can follow the Keller way, which is to make a "veal stock #1", and then make a "veal stock #2". Then you can reduce that down to make a demi. (Keller’s stock has a more tomato-y flavor, and if you want the smoky flavor that an Espagnole sauce has, you could add the bacon in the last step.)

• You can follow the traditional method and make a stock, make an Espagnole sauce, and then make a demi.

Recipe: Espagnole Sauce

Adapted from La Varenne Pratique (affiliate link)

Makes: 1½ cups

Now I have 40+ cups of stock to freeze and use up in the coming weeks, months, years! And some that I will only use as a sauce base for the best cuts of meat, like pulling out a prized bottle of wine from a cellar.

“Indeed, stock is everything in cooking. Without it, nothing can be done. If one’s stock is good, what remains of the work is easy; if, on the other hand, it is bad or merely mediocre, it is quite hopeless to expect anything approaching a satisfactory meal.”
Auguste Escoffier in Guide Culinaire (1903)

Bovine collagen
You can make brown stock from chicken, beef, or veal. Since I tried chicken stock last week, I wanted to try brown stock made with beef and veal.

As I learned last week, stock is the most important flavor carrier for soups and sauces. But I didn’t know that the magic ingredient in stock is collagen.



Collagen is a protein in animals that connects and supports bodily tissues, such as skin, bone, tendons, muscles, and cartilage. While the collagen from the bones cooks, it dissolves into gelatin, picks up the flavors from the bones and aromatic vegetables, and transfers them into the stock. As the stock simmers, it’s collecting healthy minerals from the bones like calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulphur, and trace minerals. Good stock builds strong bones, relieves sore throats, and helps the sick. The resulting gelatin is the ‘glue’ that combines all the flavors and gives body to the soup or sauce.

More collagen is found in a younger animal. As an animal gets older, it makes less collagen. Also, more collagen is in the knuckles and joints of these animals. Finally, more collagen is found in veal than in beef. So, at the butchery, ask for the knuckles and joints of a young veal (if you can get over the morality of it all, that is, and your butcher is willing to part with this soon to be liquid gold).

Veal stock‑a magic elixir
So, one reason veal stock is a miraculous substance is due to the extra collagen you get from the bones. Now, what is it about all this collagen that makes it so desirable in stock? Why do we want it to wibble and wabble like Jell-O after simmering it all day? One reason is that this gelatin naturally and easily thickens and enriches the soup or sauce in which the stock is used, providing richness and mouthfeel. It’s all about taste.

“Auguste Escoffier invented veal stock.” So begins Jonah Lehrer’s essay on “The Essence of Taste” in his book called Proust Was a Neuroscientist. Escoffier (1846-1935) was a young, ambitious, celebrated chef of his time. He was concerned about how things tasted, and less about how it looked. He believed that “What it actually tastes like is the only thing that matters.”

Michael Ruhlman, a food journalist extraordinaire, writes this about veal stock:

a natural wonder
a great work of art
the backbone of the finest culinary tradition
the most powerful tool in professional kitchens

These declarations about veal stock come from an interesting essay Ruhlman wrote called “Veal Stock‑a personal reflection on the home cook’s most valuable ingredient” in his book The Elements of Cooking. I found an excerpt here, but it’s worth it to buy his book and read the whole essay. He expounds on the importance of veal stock and how it’s the forgotten ingredient in this age of convenience where it’s quicker to buy a container of 4 cups of beef broth for $3 than make it yourself. But look at this mouthfeel (and it’s not veal broth):

Another reason why homemade veal stock is so much better than beef stock is its neutrality, depth of flavor, and its silky, velvety texture. Plus, it has no added MSG, like most store-bought broth. Just natural, home-brewed umami. Umami? The fifth sense. It’s not bitter, not sour, not salty, nor sweet. It’s “delicious,” yummy even. This is the definition of umami. In geeky terms, it is glutamic acid.
This glutamic acid can be tasted in asian fish sauce, corn, miso, mushrooms, aged Parmesan, prosciutto, shellfish, smoked or cured fish, soy sauce, vine-ripened tomatoes, and of course veal stock. It’s the “je ne sais quoi” of flavors.

Adding more flavor
Now that we’ve determined veal stock is the way to go, there’s the bone preparation to consider. In general, the key difference between brown and white stock is that the bones for brown stock are browned in the oven first. However, just to confuse the issue a bit, some brown stocks are not roasted first. In fact, Thomas Keller doesn’t roast the bones first. He suggests roasting adds impurities to the stock.

Another flavor enhancer is tomato paste, which most brown stocks include. This is for flavor, color, and to help break down the collagen. It adds a depth of flavor and rich mouthfeel to the stock. Stock made without tomato paste makes the stock a lighter, more neutral color, which may desirable in some sauces. The acid in tomatoes breaks down the connective tissues on the bones. Thomas Keller’s veal stock includes fresh tomatoes as well.

Finally, another way to add flavor to the stock is to roast the vegetables to carmelize them, technically called the Maillard reaction. This reaction turns the sugars in the vegetables brown and sweet. I didn’t try this step. However, after I’ve used up all the stock in my fridge and freezer, I’ll have to experiment with this variation too. Maybe.


Remi and demi
In my reading up on stocks, I found a couple of other terms bandied about.

A remouillage (sometimes shortened to remi) is a portion of a previously made stock used as a starter for the new version of stock. Like a sourdough starter for bread, this is a starter for a stock that gives it a burst of flavor from your previous stock-making labor.

A demi-glace (often shortened to demi) is a stock that’s been reduced to a sauce, thick-like consistency. This reduced stock can be stored in ice cube trays, frozen, and stored in the freezer. A small amount of demi-glace can go a long way in boosting the flavor of a sauce.

Doing the Laundry
To follow the Thomas Keller way, check out his wonderful cookbook The French Laundry Cookbook (affiliate link) or go to a great blog called French Laundry at Home where there is a post about Veal Stock and follow along step-by-step.


Here is a great article to check out: Sweet, Sour, Salty, Bitter… and Umami an NPR article and podcast

"Good broth will resurrect the dead."
South American proverb

Recipe: Fond brun clair de veau (Basic recipe for brown stock)

from Le Cordon Bleu at Home (affiliate link)


Makes: 8 cups

6 pounds veal bones
2 pounds meaty veal knuckle
4 tablespoons tomato paste
24 cups water
3 medium carrots, chopped
3 onions, quartered
Salt
12 peppercorns
1 Bouquet Garni


Tasting Notes
Of all the brown stocks I tried, Thomas Keller’s version was by far the most gelatinous (see the photo on the left). It had a beautiful rosy, brown color and tasted delicious. My next favorite was the veal stock roasted with tomato sauce from the recipe above (see the photo on the right). It too gelled, although not as much, and tasted lighter and less tomato-y than Keller’s. These two will be stored in the freezer to be pulled out only for special occasions.

I also tried reducing the Keller version and the lightest version (beef stock not roasted) to a demi-glace. The Keller one became so gelled that I could form the gel into little balls. The beef stock remained liquid, but it improved its flavor slightly.

. . . . . . . . . .

Running total: $400.64 + $3.17 (I’m only counting 1 version of veal stock, not 5, and I’m counting the free one at that!) = $403.81

Butter used so far: 4 pounds, 28 tablespoons

More to Explore:

• Index of Recipes
• Visual Recipe Index

More to Explore:

• Index of Recipes
• Visual Recipe Index

There are three important concepts and skills that are always mentioned when starting out in the culinary world:

* Mise en place
* Mirepoix
* Knife skills and different kinds of cuts

Mise en place (meez-on-plahs) means “set in place”, getting everything for a recipe ready beforehand, including preparing any vegetables, measuring out liquids and dry ingredients, and assembling the equipment you will need.

Mirepoix (MEER-pwah) is a basic flavouring for soups and stews according to Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cooking Techniques (affiliate link) comprised of a coarsely diced mixture of onions (or leeks), carrots, and celery. Roughly half the mixture is onions, a quarter is carrots, and another quarter is celery.


A knife is the most important tool in the kitchen, and therefore knife skills are one of the most important skills a chef can learn. With proper technique, accomplished chefs can quickly cut through mounds of vegetables quickly and efficiently. That’s not me! I’m still learning. I have been enjoying learning from the latest handbook about knives called Knife Skills Illustrated (affiliate link) by Peter Hertzmann. Here is a list of the different types of cuts, their sizes, and a picture:

Large dice
¾ inch cube
2cm cube Medium dice
½ inch cube
1cm cube Small dice
¼ inch cube
6mm cube Brunoise (BREWN-wahz)
between 3/16 and ⅛ inch cube
2-3mm cube Fine Brunoise
finely diced cube
1/16 inch cube
1.5mm cubePaysanne (PAHY-sahn)
flat square or triangle
½ inch by ½ inch by ¼ inch
1.2cm by 1.2cm by 6mm
To cut a paysanne, take one of the dices and cut it in half.

Bâtonnet (BAH-toh-nah)
matchstick shape
¼ inch by ¼ inch by 2-2½ inches
6mm by 6mm by 5-6cm

Julienne (JU-lee-en)
long, thin sticks, sometimes called matchsticks
⅛ inch by ⅛ inch by 1-2 inches
3mm by 3mm by 2.5-5cm

More to Explore:

• Index of Recipes
• Visual Recipe Index

Clarified butter means the milk solids and water have been removed from the butter. It is also known as “drawn butter”.

Here are some pros and cons of using clarified butter:

• It keeps longer because it doesn’t have the milk in it to go rancid.
• It has a higher smoke point.
• It has a buttery taste that oils don’t have.
• It doesn’t have the rich flavor of regular unsalted butter.

Use unsalted butter and melt it slowly in a saucepan over low heat. Don’t stir. Let it sit so that the milk solids and water separate from the butter fat. Skim the foam from the surface. Remove from the heat and let stand a few minutes until the milk solids settle to the bottom. Carefully pour the clear yellow liquid (the clarified butter) into a container, leaving the milk solids in the bottom of the saucepan; discard the solids.

A stick (8 tablespoons) of butter will make about 6 tablespoons of clarified butter. It keeps in the refrigerator for several months.